Sri Lanka vs. England: Joe Root believes the team is full of "huge amounts of confidence" compared to Kandy Test

Galle: England captain Joe Root believes his team will go to the second test against Sri Lanka in Kandy on Wednesday with "huge amounts of confidence" after passing the home team in Galle.

"We played really good stuff," Root said after the great 211 victory. "The way we played during the four days, with everyone who played and played a part, is really nice."

"We said we would start doing things a little differently at the start of the series and we really lined up and we really agreed to go to Kandy with a lot of confidence and back up what was a brilliant four days here, "he said.

Image file of Joe's English root. AP

England took a tremendous trajectory in Galle, losing five wickets for just 103 runs, with the debut of Rory Burns debut in Hall for nine, Moeen Ali in the first ball and Ben Stokes running for seven.

But from lunch onwards, England was in the driver's seat, not least because of the novice Ben Foakes 107 – who made him the man of the match – and with valuable contributions from Jos Buttler, Sam Curran and Adil Rashid.

Sri Lanka was then distributed for 203, with Ali having obtained four wickets for 66 and Jack Leach and Rashid who took two apiece, giving the hosts an advantage of 139 points.

Keaton Jennings then made his late return in England's second inning with an assured 146 not out, allowing Root to declare Sri Lanka a huge goal of 462.

They were all out for 250 and Ali took four wickets for the second time in the match, ably assisted by Leach who took three and from Stokes with an aggressive bowling and with a high chin.

"We had some clear plans on how we would have faced this particular game on this surface: seeing them work, seeing the hard work that leads to the success of the game, is great," Root said.

"The way we played in the summer (defeating an Indian team 4-1) was the signal of this team advancing and we really supported this performance," he said.

"It's very difficult to win the test matches abroad now, I think it's even sweeter when you get to a very difficult place like Galle, and you can win games, we hope to build on this and it's not just an out for us.